Junior tight end Adam Moses pulled in a game-high five catches for a contest-best 61 yards and a touchdown in Waynesburg's 46-7 PAC win over Thiel.
WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Sept. 17) – After a two-week hiatus from competition, the Waynesburg University football team looked far from rusty when it opened Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play against Thiel College this past Saturday.
The Yellow Jackets scored early and often as they rolled to a 46-7 triumph over the visiting Tomcats under sunny skies at John F. Wiley Stadium. With the win, the Jackets evened their season record 1-1 and improved to 1-0 in PAC play. The Tomcats fell to 0-3 for the year and 0-1 in conference competition.
The first four drives of the game yielded no points for either team, but on the last drive of that span, junior defensive tackle
Matt Krause forced a fumble out by Thiel quarterback Jared Soell and the ball was recovered by sophomore defensive end
Brandon Fedorka at the Thiel 21-yard line. Four players later, senior quarterback
Josh Graham hooked up with senior running back
Justin Falcon for the first touchdown of the season for both players. The scoring play capped a four-play drive and sophomore
Dominic Zappa added the extra point kick to make it 7-0 Waynesburg halfway through the opening quarter.
After the Jacket defense forced a three-and-out, the home offense went right back to work and doubled Waynesburg's advantage. This time it was junior backup quarterback
Tyler Fatigante who found pay dirt on a seven-yard scoring run with 4:25 showing on the clock. His scamper, which ended five-play, 37-yard drive, combined with another Zappa extra point, made it 14-0 Jackets.
The second quarter played out much like the first as Waynesburg was able to turn an interception by junior safety
Bryan Gary into six more points. After Gary took the pick back 31 yards to the Thiel two-yard line, sophomore full back
Dominic Moore pounded in his first touchdown of the season to make it 20-0 in favor of the home team.
The Jackets wasted no time in stretching their advantage to four touchdowns after Fatigante blocked a Thiel punt that was recovered by sophomore
Pat Depizzo at the visiting team's 23-yard line. One play later, Graham found All-American tight end
Adam Moses for his first scoring grab of the season. Unfortunately, Thiel blocked another Jacket extra point, but the advantage grew to 26-0 with just over eight minutes to play until halftime.
The Jackets managed to tack on one more score before heading for the locker room when freshman
John Sikora picked off Thiel's Andrew Smith to set his offense up at the 14-yard line. Sophomore running back
Bertrand Ngampa took his turn at putting points on the scoreboard by ending a short, two-play drive with a two-yard touchdown run. Another Zappa kick put Waynesburg up by the halftime score of 33-0.
The scoring calmed down in the third quarter, but the Jackets managed to tack on seven more points when Graham found junior receiver
Christian Jackson for a 32-yard catch-and-run with just 22 seconds remaining in the period. The scoring drive spanned 45 yards in four plays, lasted 1:43 seconds and gave Waynesburg a 39-0 advantage. Fatigante ended the scoring for the Jackets just a few minutes later when he took off on a 65-yard run to pay dirt with 11:28 showing on the clock. Zappa's final PAT made the score 46-0 Jackets. Thiel managed to punch in their only score of the game with 6:23 left to play, but it was too little too late.
While the Waynesburg offense scored its most points since week five of last year, they benefitted from a dominant Jacket defense. The home team allowed just 146 total yards of offense, including 73 yards passing, and recorded four turnovers. Gary racked up a team-high seven tackles to go along with his interception. Senior All-American defensive tackle
Darryl Moore, Jr. added six stops, including five solo hits, 2.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. Senior linebacker
Scott Bogdan also recorded six tackles, including two for loss and 1.5 sacks.
The Waynesburg offense was a true team effort, particularly in the running game. Five different backs combined for 225 yards, including four ball carriers – Fatigante, Falcon, sophomore
Bertrand Ngampa and senior
Jamelle Bowers – who had at least 25 yards each. Graham completed just 11-of-26 passes, but three of those hookups went for touchdowns. Moses was Graham's favorite target on the afternoon, pulling in a game-high five balls for 61 yards and a score.
The statistics mirrored the score when it came to expressing Waynesburg's outstanding performance. The Jackets out-gained their opponents 345 to 146 in total yardage, picked up 18 first downs, to Thiel's seven, had a four-to-two advantage in turnovers and held the ball for 31:51 to Thiel's 28:09.
Waynesburg will look to carry the momentum of this week's win to next weekend when they travel to Grove City for another PAC showdown. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
NOTE: Waynesburg was off last week because flooding near Wilkes University caused a cancellation of the scheduled game.
